WASHINGTON — The Obama administration Friday laid out a five-year, $2 billion military aid package for Pakistan as it pressed the Islamabad government to intensify its fight against extremists there and in neighboring Afghanistan.
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton announced the plan during the latest round of U.S.-Pakistani strategic dialogue. The administration will ask Congress for the money for Pakistan to purchase U.S.-made arms, ammunition and accessories from 2012 to 2016, Clinton said.
While the administration touted the additional military aid, it also is moving to cut off assistance to a half-dozen Pakistani military units after concluding they killed unarmed civilians and prisoners, two U.S. officials said.
The conclusion, which was first reported by The New York Times, comes after a U.S. investigation into allegations that Pakistani army units involved in operations against militants in the Swat Valley and other locations carried out executions of prisoners during the past two years.
“We do have reason to believe that a half-dozen or so units have engaged inhuman-rights abuses,” an official said.
The new military aid replaces a similar but less-valuable package that began in 2005 and expired on Oct. 1. It will complement $7.5 billion in civilian assistance the administration has already committed to Pakistan over five years, some of which has been diverted to help the country deal with devastating floods.
The military package includes study grants for Pakistani officers seeking training at military academies in the United States.
The U.S. hopes the announcement, made by Clinton with Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi at her side, will reassure Pakistan of the longterm U.S. commitment to Pakistan’s military needs. The money also should help Pakistan bolster its efforts to go after Taliban and al-Qaida affiliates on its territory.
Clinton sought to downplay U.S. worries about Pakistan’s commitment to the war on terrorism. She recognized the sacrifices of its soldiers and said, “The United States has no stronger partner when it comes to counterterrorism efforts against the extremists who threaten us both than Pakistan.”
Qureshi said Pakistan appreciated the assistance, but he expressed annoyance at the lingering doubts. He said nearly 30,000 Pakistani civilians have died in terrorist attacks and nearly 7,000soldiers and police have been killed fighting a foe that “that offers no quarter, obeys no law and holds nothing sacred.”
Nonetheless, he said, there are still comments “even in this capital, about Pakistan’s heart being not really in this fight.”
“We do not know what greater evidence to offer than the blood of our people,” he said.
“Madame Secretary, we are determined to win this fight,” Qureshi said, adding that Pakistan would “not allow any space to terrorists on its territory.”
1997 AID LAW CITED
Friday’s announcement followed news that the administration has been withholding assistance to a handful of Pakistani military units accused of human-rights abuses under 1997 legislation. Clinton said those units would not be eligible for the new aid.
“We will continue to ensure that all assistance [will] comply with U.S. laws and regulations,” she said. “We take all allegations of human-rights abuses seriously and we discuss them with the government of Pakistan and we follow the law and we work with our partners in Pakistan to deal with any issues that come to our attention.”
Some areas where the killings are said to have occurred appear to be locations such as Swat, where the U.S. urged the Pakistanis to conduct socalled clearing operations in 2009 when militants groups began pushing into major cities in the Punjab region.
In the months after those operations, the U.S. Embassy in Islamabad began examining allegations that Pakistani soldiers were killing prisoners and others they suspected of sympathizing with the militants, rather than incarcerating them or turning them over to the Pakistani courts.
A U.S. law known as the Leahy Amendment prohibits U.S. assistance to foreign militaries that have violated human rights, and the officials said the move to halt training and financial support to the Pakistani units was done to comply with the statute. The law was sponsored by Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt.
The officials would not identify the roughly six units that would be affected, other than that they included Pakistani Special Forces. Nor would they say how much aid would be withheld. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because a final decision has not been reached.
“The process on our side isn’t completed yet,” one of the officials said.
As a result Pakistan has not been formally notified of the decision yet, the officials said, but Adm. Mike Mullen, the chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, has discussed the allegations with Gen.
Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, the chief of the Pakistani army staff, an aide said.
Qureshi said the Pakistani government was aware of the situation but said steps were being taken to correct it.
“I can assure there will be zero tolerance against human rights violations,” he said. “If there is action required, the government of Pakistan will take action.”
TALKS TARGET TENSIONS
This week’s talks in Washington, the third round of the U.S.-Pakistan Strategic Dialogue, came as the countries tried to ease tensions over American military incursions across the border from Afghanistan and allegations that Islamabad is not doing enough to target Taliban militants.
During the last round in Islamabad in July, Clinton announced more than $500 million in aid for a variety of projects, including renovating hospitals, improving water distribution and upgrading hydroelectric dams. The U.S. had to re-examine its plans after the meeting, however, after Pakistan was hit by the worst floods in the country’s history.
In the third such session by the two countries since March, Pakistan pledged to play a constructive role in talks between the Afghan government and Taliban leaders, some of whom are believed by the United Statesto be hiding in Pakistan.
The U.S. has been pouring money into Pakistan since the 2001 invasion of Afghanistan to oust the Taliban regime that harbored al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden.
The funding has included $12.5 billion in security assistance since fiscal 2002 as reimbursement for Pakistan’s contribution to combating terrorism, according to figures compiled by the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service.
OBAMA’S HELP SOUGHT
In an unusual aside, Qureshi called on President Barack Obama to intervene in the Pakistan-India dispute over the Himalayan region of Kashmir during Obama’s planned trip next month to India.
Qureshi referred to Obama’s assertion during the 2008 campaign that the United States should encourage India and Pakistan to resolve the matter.
Indian officials are strongly opposed to U.S. mediation.
Daniel Markey, a former State Department official at the Council on Foreign Relations, said that “any comment on Kashmir by Obama would be most unwelcome, and positively counterproductive.”
In northwest Pakistan, meanwhile, bombs hit a mosque and a group of soldiers, killing nine people. Army airstrikes later in the day killed 22 suspected insurgents in the area where the soldiers had been traveling, officials said.
Information for this article was contributed by Matthew Lee, Riaz Khan, Munir Ahmed and Hussain Afzal of The Associated Press, by Paul Richter and David S. Cloud of the Tribune Washington Bureau and by Flavia Krause-Jackson and Viola Gienger of Bloomberg News.
Front Section, Pages 1 on 10/23/2010